Movie Diary 2/10/2014

Winter’s Tale (Akiva Goldsman, 2014). I haven’t read the Mark Helprin novel. This movie makes me curious in all the wrong ways. If you were perhaps expecting a certain kind of movie from the directing debut of the man who scripted Batman Forever and A Beautiful Mind, you will not be disappointed. DEAR GOD IN HEAVEN. (full review 2/14)

Like Father, Like Son (Hirokazu Kore-eda, 2013). Children are key to the plot of the film, but this one goes a different direction from Kore-eda’s great Nobody Knows, which was all at kid-level. The story is about two boys switched at the hospital at birth, and how their parents deal with the revelation six years later; the focus is on one father, and the issue of nature vs. nurture. (full review 2/14)

Point Blank (John Boorman, 1967). Looking good after all these years, but still definitely rooted in the 1960s. Lee Marvin has so much authority, he can slay you when he lets it crack for a moment.

Aguirre, the Wrath of God (Werner Herzog, 1972). Where Herzog puts it all together, despite Klaus Kinski trying to tear it all apart. Still fascinating to watch how Herzog sets up unstable situations within shots, and placidly lets them play out.